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My jaw clenched tight, the muscles at its base pulsing away. Was I upset about her dismissal of her obligation? Hell yeah. Was I more worried about her safety? You bet. I was nowhere closer to finding her. The Montreal tip had been a dead end in terms of actually getting my hands on her. Luca had broken into the dancing company’s internal records and found Tasa was indeed registered for the workshop. That was a good sign, but it was more than two months away. Anything could happen to her from now till then. I let out a grunt of frustration.
I’d failed her, which was why I was trying to handle Luca a little differently, despite our spat when I first told him of my plans. The thought of Luca not bowing down to my demand had the expensive bourbon roiling in my spasming stomach. Fuck, no, I couldn’t marry the Popescu girl. I simply couldn’t. The grip around my glass tightened like a vise. I didn’t even want to recall her name. The less I knew about her, the better.
It was bad enough that Nina and I were hiding. That I couldn’t show up to her twenty-first birthday party at her home. Christ, I didn’t even want to know what kind of pussy Yo-Yo thought I was. It was telling that I was worried what a seventeen-year-old boy thought of me. I was a man who didn’t hide my life and certainly not the woman I wanted, but I’d conceded to Nina’s request. I wasn’t about to make her life more difficult than I was already making it. But the thought of another woman like the Popescu girl? Hell, that only made me want to smash my glass against the wall.
“Luca’s loyal, there’s no question about that,” declared Nicu, sliding his pawn forward.
“He is, but his understanding of loyalty is not the same as yours and mine. Tata treated him differently, and his resentment runs deep.”
“How are you going to convince him?”
“I can’t bribe him. The man wants for nothing, and he has no desires I can fulfill. Nor is he a soldier who simply takes orders. He’s my brother, and after Tasa, I’m hesitant to push too hard.”
“He knows it, too,” observed Nicu. “And he’s taking advantage of that. You might be better off if you act decisively.”
“That’s what I thought with Tasa after I caught her going to that sex club with Nina. I thought she’d settle down if I took her in hand. Instead, she rebelled, and look where that’s put us. I already have one sibling on the loose. Can’t have a mutiny with Luca, as well.”
“You might give him L.A.,” Nicu suggested.
“Have him move out of New York? Across the country? Mama will have a fit.”
“He wants to be his own man,” my brother elucidated. “He’s a loner. Stays away from the family as much as he can. You can’t please everyone, but if you find Tasa and bring her back, Mama will be satisfied. Let him get married, go to California, and take over for you there. That’s a carrot you can dangle in front of him.”
“How do you know this?” I asked, absorbing his argument.
“Besides the way he acts, you mean?” Nicu replied, casting me an incisive look. “We practically live together when he’s not isolating in his Westchester mansion. He talks enough that I get the gist of what drives him, which is to get away from us.”
Leaning back into the chair, I studied the chessboard as I stroked my chin. It could work. At this point, it was the closest I had to a solution. That was assuming I found Tasa. After that ridiculous little workshop, if she wanted to pursue this bizarre form of dance, she could do that just as well at the center of the dance world in New York City as in little Montreal, Madame Pierrette notwithstanding.
Waving to the chessboard, Nicu returned my attention to the chessboard and challenged me, “Come on, let’s see if you can checkmate me this time.”
